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We Came, We Blogged, We Bashed

Today was the first Annual Blogger’s Bash Awards, held in London and attended by around twenty bloggers, including myself. We were a mostly UK based bunch except for Ali who flew in from Ireland to attend and Conny from Germany, a welcome surprise addition to our group.

I arrived just before eleven at the British Library and… there was no-one there. Then a woman who’d been taking photos of the wonderful Isaac Newton statue came up to me.

‘Are you here for the Blogging Bash?’ she asked, very brave under the circumstances. It turned out to be Marje from Kyrosmagica, and she’d recognised me from the photo on my own blog. Pleased to meet a fellow blogger at last, I shook hands and we chatted for a few minutes before a Blogging Bash T-Shirt-clad Hugh, from Hugh’s News and Views appeared and said hello. Then it was on. Soon there was a small crowd of us at the base of the statue, conversations ebbing and flowing as we moved around the group, introducing ourselves. There were people I recognised from following their blogs, and others I’d not yet seen – it was a strange thing, to put faces to the names and words I’ve been reading, something a few of us expressed.

Photos were taken, jokes told and blogs exchanged, before we headed across the road to Pizza Express and took up a table spanning most of the room. We ate, we drank and we made a lot of noise, much to the amusement of the staff and fellow diners (at least, I hope it was amusement!) Speeches were made, with Sacha, Hugh, Geoff and Ali all taking their turn and then awards were handed out, with Suzie from Suzie Speaks getting two nods, and Lucy from Blonde Write More winning one as well (for a full list of winners, go here).

Sacha saying a few words…

Hugh making us laugh

We wound up by wandering several doors down to an Irish pub on the corner, where we sat and drank and talked some more (not short of words, us bloggers!). Then it was time for me to go and so I walked back to Euston with Mel and we went our separate ways.

Me with the lovely Suzie from Suzie Speaks

A fabulous day over all – well done to the organising committee, Sacha, Hugh, Geoffle and Ali 🙂 I met some wonderful people, had a great time and my only complaint was that it was over so quickly! Bring on next year’s Bash 🙂

58 thoughts on “We Came, We Blogged, We Bashed”

Yeay! How incredibly wonderful!! I am so happy you had this blogging event and I waved ‘across the pond’ to say hello! Huge congrats to everyone, and especially our dear Suzie!! Well done!! Thank you Helen, for sharing this with us! Cher xo

Ah, bless you girls! That is extremely thoughtful and kind of you! It would have been my absolute honor! Thank you, Helen! Oh yes, please come on over! It will be great to have you share your wonderful blog!! Cher xo

Reblogged this on graemecummingdotnet and commented:
I’ve been pretty idle on the blogging front recently and getting to share posts like this one from Helen doesn’t help. A fantastic day enjoyed by all as far as I could make out.

Thanks Graham – it was great to meet you too – that was the only downside for me, that I didn’t get to spend enough time with everyone. Still, what a fantastic day out! Hope to see you blogging again soon xx

Oh, Ali, it was wonderful to meet you as well – I think we all needed another day just to talk 🙂 And I didn’t mean to be so quick with my post – when I got home I wanted to write it all down while it was fresh in my mind, and then it became a blog post!

This was such a terrific idea it was lovely meeting everyone so glad I took the plunge and came along. Everyone was super friendly and we all got on so well – not surprising as we have a lot in common. Looking forward to the next bloggers bash!

Goodness Helen, did you send this before you left!!? Dexterous or what? Lovely to meet you in person and so glad everyone had a bundle of fun. Good luck with Ambeth book two did I say I loved the cover btw? Several times?) Until the next one…!

Thanks Geoffle (or should I say Jaffle) – it was lovely to meet you too, looking forward to the next time 🙂 And I wasn’t meaning to post so quickly – I just started writing when I got home, wanting to capture it while it was fresh in my mind – then it became a blog post!

Hi Hugh, it was lovely meeting you too! You weren’t bombarding me at all, I felt the same way about meeting everyone, and wished I had another day just so I could talk to them all 🙂 And thank you so much for the offer to host my book on your blog, it’s very much appreciated and if I can do the same for you on my blog, please let me know. Looking forward to next year’s event too – Albert Hall, I presume? 😉

Ha! I’ve heard it said that we will take over Buckingham Palace, Helen. After all, the Queen is away up in Balmoral in August. I’m sure she can leave the key under the front door mat, and I’d be very happy to vacuum clean the palace after everyone has left 🙂